Haley was awoken when a tiny bit of light floated into the room. She hadn't meant to fall asleep, but after around 3 in the morning it had been hard for her to stay awake. Glancing in the direction of the light, she saw Nathan coming into the spare bedroom she was in, quietly closing the door behind him. At first she was going to put her bags into Nathan's room, but she wasn't sure how he would react if he saw them there.

"Hey, I'm awake."

He turned around towards her and for a moment he looked like a child who got caught sticking his hand in the cookie jar right before dinner. "Oh, I'm sorry. I didn't mean to disturb you."

His hand reached for the doorknob, but before he could leave Haley stopped him. "Nathan, come here. Come talk to me."

"Why does it have to be this difficult, Hales?" He hadn't meant to wake her up. Even though he had known it wasn't a good idea to sneak around, he had only wanted to lie in bed next to her and get a few good hours of sleep. Ever since she left, he hadn't been able to sleep a whole night through. There was just such an absence without her lying perfectly in his arms. It was selfish, he knew, but there would have been no hope of him staying away from her anyway.

"Nathan, it doesn't have to be. Just come sit down and tell me what happened. Is Dan okay?"

Nathan walked over to the bed and sat down on the edge. As Haley sat up, he couldn't help but notice that she was wearing his sweatshirt. It was the same one she had worn when Lucas had come to say goodbye, the morning after they were married.

When she realized what he was staring at, she began to take it off. "I'm sorry, I was just cold and I didn't think you would mind."

"No, it's fine, I don't mind. It just had me thinking about things."

Haley smiled. "I know what you mean. Now tell me about Dan, did they get him out?"

"Yeah, but he's really badly burned. He has third degree burns over a large portion of his body and he's still unconscious. Right now they are just doing their best to treat the burns and waiting for him to wake up. It's so hard to tell how the fire started because there was so much destruction. The police are hoping Dan can help them out when he comes to, hoping he has some kind of information. My mom's still in shock though. I tried to get her to come home and get some sleep, but she refused to leave the hospital."

"Well, of course, she wants to stay with him. I'm sure she wants to be there when he wakes up."

Nathan stood up and began pacing the room. "Is it horrible that I don't care if he doesn't wake up? I mean after everything he's done to screw up my life, to screw up us, I just don't even care about him. I just hate what he's doing to my mom. She was finally going to leave him, and even while he's dying he has found a way to keep her around. God, I can't believe I'm saying this."

"Nathan, it's fine, you have the right to feel however you want to feel. Your father has done some pretty horrible things and no one can blame you for feeling that way. But what do you mean, how did he screw us up?"

"I didn't sign any annulment papers, Hales, I never once even thought about doing it. Dan wanted me to, but I refused. I think he probably forged my signature."

"Oh, god, I don't know how I was this stupid. When I got off stage and he was waiting with the papers in his hands, I couldn't believe it. But then when I saw your signature I couldn't help but think it was what you really wanted. In the back of my mind though, I had so many doubts. I just knew you wouldn't give up that easily and that's why I didn't sign them. I sent them back with Lucas, but without my signature. I wasn't going to sign them until I had talked to you, directly."

"Wait, wait, wait. So he came to you, while you were on tour? I can't believe it, well yeah I guess I can. He just such an ass! It's just all so messed up. I hate him, but I would feel horrible if he died."

"Nathan, you just have to take it one step at a time."

Nathan smiled. "That's exactly what I was telling myself earlier tonight. So you didn't sign the papers, huh?"

"I just couldn't do it, my heart was screaming no. That was when I truly realized being on tour wasn't the place for me. There was just such a big hole in my heart and I knew you would be the only one able to fix it."

"Chris couldn't do it?"

Haley shook her head. "I was wondering when you were going to bring him up."

"Well, he was a big reason why you stayed so long, wasn't he?"

"No! My being on tour had nothing to do with him, I would have gone even if he wasn't there. It was something I needed to do for me, I had to see for myself how much being without you hurt."

"So the sex wasn't great, huh?"

"Nathan, that was completely uncalled for. I can't even believe you just said that." Haley shook her head and rested her cheek against her palm.

"You're right. I'm sorry, it just came out. Guess it was something I had wanted to say in my head when I used to rehearse this conversation. It didn't feel as good as it used to." Nathan started to walk back over to the bed, but as he walked by one of her bags, he accidentally knocked it over and a stack of letters fell out. He couldn't believe what he was looking at.

"What is this? I can't believe it, are these letters he wrote to you? And you what, come back here expecting to make everything right, but meanwhile you're pen pals with that jerk?"

Haley quickly stood up and ripped the letters out of his hands. "You weren't supposed to see these. But it's not what you think."

"Oh, really nice, Haley. Still keeping secrets, I see." He wasn't going to let her off that easy, he needed to read at least one of them to see what it said. After all, he had to know how big of an affair his wife was really having. Haley took her eyes off of his for one second, and as she did he took the letters back out of her hands.

"Nathan, please, don't." She didn't fight him anymore though. She just sat back down on the bed as he sat down across from her, removing the first letter from the stack. But as he sat back down, he noticed something that he hadn't seen the first time he held them in his hands.

They were all addressed to him.

"Hales…"

"I tried to write you one everyday, but sometimes I would get so busy that I would just write during my spare time."

"How come you never actually sent them to me?"

"Well, mostly because when I left I knew that you weren't too happy with me and I was really worried that you would have just thrown them away. So after awhile they became sort of my therapy. It became my way of reaching out to you and my way of letting you know what I was doing, even if you weren't truly listening. It just became so hard and these were really the only way I got through each day."

Nathan flipped the letter over and removed it from the envelope. He knew she probably didn't want him to, but he began to read the letter out loud. It broke his heart to read what it had to say, to realize how difficult of a choice she had made.

"Nathan,

Today was the first day waking up without you lying here next to me and it was much harder than I expected it to be. I know you probably hate me right now, but one day I hope you realize that I had to do this for me. It was easily the most difficult decision I have ever made in my life. I wish you could be here to live my dream with me, but I understand you have your own dreams to fulfill at home. When the time comes, apply for High Flyers again. You got in last time and they would be crazy not to ask you to audition again. Just don't make the decision for anyone else but yourself. If you don't want to go, that's fine, but make sure nobody else decides for you.

So far, it's been scary here. I basically don't know anyone and this place is so huge compared to Tree Hill. I miss everyone from home, but most of all I miss you. I just wish I could hear your voice, even if it was just you yelling at me and telling me how horrible of a wife I am. I am a horrible wife, for putting you through this, and there are so many regrets running through my mind. But hey, no regrets, right? I know that one day you will understand my decision, even though it doesn't seem possible right now.

They say I might get to be on TV, it's pretty crazy. Just don't listen to whatever you hear that may be hurtful. Know that I love you, and only you. I miss you and it hurts, but for now writing this letter will just have to do.

I will love you forever,

Haley"

Nathan looked up just as Haley was wiping a tear from her cheek. He couldn't believe he was actually holding this letter in his hands. It said everything that he had wanted to hear from Haley throughout the past few months. "Hales, three things: I've never hated you- just the whole situation we were in, second you aren't a horrible wife- you were just following your dream and I was making it difficult on you, and lastly I did apply for High Flyers and I'm going to Florida."

"Oh, Nathan! That's great, I'm so proud of you!"

"I'm leaving in a week." Nathan was so confused. Before Haley has showed up, everything was so simple and he had wanted to go to High Flyers. Now she was here and it was the last thing he wanted to do, he wanted to stay here and fix things between them. But he had stayed here for her last time, and look how that had turned out.

"Wow, that soon, huh?"

"Yeah."

"Well, we don't have to talk about that right now. I'm so glad that you are going, you really deserve it more than anyone." Haley forced herself to smile.

"Thanks, it really means a lot to hear you say that." Nathan glanced over at the clock. "Wow, it's already four in the morning."

"Yeah, maybe we should try and get some sleep, huh? I'm going to go get ready for bed." Haley went into her bag and grabbed some pajamas before heading into the bathroom of the spare bedroom. As she did, Nathan caught a glimpse of something, but he didn't truly believe his eyes until he held it in his hands. It was the robe that he had bought her on their first date, after Brooke had sent them to the lingerie store. He smiled and carefully placed it back into her bag. For some reason it made him happy, almost like she had taken a part of him with her on the road.

Nathan looked back to the end table where he had placed the stack of letters. Removing the last one of the pile, he sat down to read what it said:

"Nathan,

I'm coming home tomorrow and I'm a little afraid of how you will react. We haven't talked in awhile, not since your accident when you told me not to come home. Not since you told me to follow my dreams. Well the ironic thing about that day was I realized the dream I was living was not the one I thought I wanted for myself. I've been preparing myself since that day to come home, to finally be where I belong.

I hope you don't push me away when you see me, or slam the door in my face. I hope you realize that Chris was just an image, and never an attraction. I hope you see he had the life I wanted, or thought I wanted, and that's the only reason why I went with him. I hope you see that I love you more than life itself and I still can't understand what I did to deserve you. I hope you also see that you supported me more than anyone else and that support gave me the courage to leave in the first place.

Remember the night of our wedding, when I was afraid that we were making a mistake? You told me that you would always protect me and you would always be there for me. Well I've let you down because I wasn't there for you, but I'll never forget that night. You made me feel so safe and so sure of what we were doing, even though I had my own doubts. You NEVER had any doubts about us, but somewhere in the back of my mind I didn't completely trust myself. But now I do, I know without a doubt that we didn't make the wrong choice. I hope you make the right choice tomorrow and give me the chance to at least talk. It would hurt so much, but I would understand if you never wanted to talk to me again. I probably wouldn't allow it though. I will fight for you until the day I die, and I promise to never take the easy way out. We're both in this for the long haul.

I can't wait to see your face and hold you in my arms. I know it may take awhile, maybe even years, to get back to where we were. I will never stop trying, I will never stop being your wife, and I will never stop loving you. Always remember that.

Haley"

Nathan placed the letter back at the bottom of the pile and then headed off to his bedroom so he could get ready for bed.

When Haley stepped out of the bathroom and saw that Nathan was gone, she couldn't help but feel a little disappointed. She knew it wasn't going to be easy, but she was going to have to accept sleeping a few doors down from him. Being on the road, she had missed the warmth of him lying next to her every night, but it wasn't her place to crawl into Nathan's bed. She would let him decide when he was ready for that. Pulling back the covers of the guest bed, she climbed in and did her best to make herself comfortable. She reached over to turn the lamp off and closed her eyes to try and get some sleep.

No longer than five minutes had passed when she heard the bedroom door being opened. She looked up to see Nathan walking into the room. "Did you forget something?"

To her surprise, he didn't answer; just pulled back the covers and climbed into the bed next to her. "Is it okay if I just lay here with you tonight, and maybe hold you in my arms?"

Haley couldn't help but smile. She didn't give him a verbal answer, just laid her head down on his chest and allowed him to drape his arm around her back. "Nathan… Your heart is beating so fast."

"I'm worried, Hales, and afraid."

She picked her head up and rested her chin on his chest. "About what?"

"It feels so good to be holding you in my arms right now, but who knows how long we'll be together this time. What else is going to come between us and pull us apart? I just keep thinking about the first morning we woke up together as a married couple, and we promised to always be that happy. But it didn't last, Hales. And I'm so afraid to just pick up where we left off, what happens if we just end up in the same place?"

"Nathan, we both knew that we couldn't possibly be that happy all the time. Relationships take work, and look how hard we're willing to fight for each other. And like we said before, we just have to take it one day at a time. If it feels right- then it's right, but if you feel like you want things to go slowly then that's fine with me. I don't care, I just want to be with you. I mean after this year, it's going to take a hell of a lot to keep me away from you. I'm telling you, after this week you are going to be glad to be going to Florida."

Nathan laughed, gently brushing a strand of hair away from her face. "See that's just the thing, now you're here and I have a reason to stay. I want us to work everything out."

"Nathan you are going to that camp. I won't be the reason you stay here, so you better have a really good back up excuse if you don't get on a plane in a week. I'll still be here when you get back and maybe they'll even allow a conjugal visit."

"Oo sounds good, I'm sure the other jocks will be very jealous of me."

"You bet they will, now can we get some sleep?"

Nathan nodded and kissed the top of Haley's head as she rested it back down. Having her in his arms felt so surreal, but so right at the same time. For the past few months, he would have never guessed that he'd be lying in bed next to her. She only came to him in his dreams.

But she was here, and if there was one thing he was sure of it was that he was falling in love with her all over again. And nothing had ever felt so right the second time around.

It didn't take much longer for both of them to float into a blissful sleep…

So faithfully
Holding tight to every dream I thought our love would ever be
As the scent of hope slips through my fingers plain for me to see
I can feel now in your eyes the changing way you look at me
Where's the love we knew would last us eternally

And will your arms still hold me
And your eyes console me, baby
Please don't turn your back and just pretend
That your heart still needs me
And your soul completes me
Can we find a way to fall in love again

It's hard for you
When your heart has opened up to feelings that you never knew
Never thinking that you'd doubt our love you don't know what to do
I'd give anything, my heart, my soul if i could pull you through
Just to find again my love we hold so true

And will your arms still hold me
And your eyes console me, baby
Please don't turn your back and just pretend
That your heart still needs me
And your soul completes me
Can we find a way to fall in love again

And as every night goes by
With every lonely tear I cry
It's so clear to me
I need you by my side

And will your arms still hold me
And your eyes console me, baby
Please don't turn your back and just pretend
That your heart still needs me
And your soul completes me
Can we find a way to fall in love again

Can we find a way to fall in love again
Oh baby, I need you to love me for the rest of my life

If we fall in love again
Would you love me for the rest of my life...

- To Fall in Love Again by Jessica Simpson -


Hope you enjoyed part two! Part three will be done as soon as possible- thanks to everyone who reviewed the first part, I love feedback!

Kylie